What makes some nations wealthy and others not? One way to address that question is to look for patterns: what do wealthy nations do that non-wealthy nations don't? Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/10/why_doesnt_the_world_imitate_the_us.html#ixzz2Am0gfo62

What would you think if you were told that the most bigoted, intolerant, hateful, and xenophobic political messages this election cycle are being spread by Obama supporters? From ridiculing and disrespecting the Mormon religion to spreading secretly taped videos recorded by an Obama supporter in a Mormon church, those on the left are sanctioning this particular form of bigotry because it’s all for the cause: Obama. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the media, where pages upon pages have been devoted to Romney’s religion. Vicious, anti-Mormon rhetoric, ramping up in the final days leading up to the election, has...

***SNIP*** This bright young go-getter said what struck him most during the debate was Obama saying the rich should pay more. He thought, "Why? Why should people be punished (http://www.newsmax.com/Reagan/Obama-Class-Warfare-Romney/2012/07/12/id/445147) for working harder?" My waiter went on to say, "The problem with my generation is that too many of them think they are entitled. Entitled should be erased from their vocabulary." Folks, I wanted to give that kid a bear hug right there in the middle of the restaurant. Instead, I was extremely generous with my gratuity. Upon handing him cash, I said, "Thank you for not being a liberal."...

There is a troubling hint of something very un-American about the American president. I am not alluding to the birther controversy but rather to something in the presidentÂ’s character, attitudes, personal aura, and worldview. He could just as well have been born in Podunk or Dogpatch and yet an un-American flavor would still cling about him. A little while back I tried a thought experiment with an American friend still partly dazzled by the presidentÂ’s populist dexterity and acclaim. I asked him to recite the names of a dozen presidents at random, ending with POTUS 43. He proceeded: George...

HARD-LINE conservatives have gone to new extremes lately in opposing abortion. Last week, Richard Mourdock, the Tea Party-backed Republican Senate candidate in Indiana, declared during a debate that he was against abortion even in the event of rape because after much thought he "came to realize that life is that gift from God. And even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen." That came on the heels of the Tea Party-backed Republican Representative Joe Walsh of Illinois saying after a recent debate that he opposed abortion even in cases...

You'd think health insurance CEOs would be chilling the bubbly with Republican Mitt Romney's improved election prospects, but instead they're in a quandary. Although the industry hates parts of President Barack Obama's health care law, major outfits such as UnitedHealth Group and BlueCross Blue Shield also stand to rake in billions of dollars from new customers who'll get health insurance under the law. The companies already have invested tens of millions to carry it out. Were Romney elected, insurers would be in for months of uncertainty as his administration gets used to Washington and tries to make good on his...

Blame Early and Blame Often Voting has already begun, so why not recrimination too? "What's welling up in America's ruling Democrats is not yet a full-throated scream of desperation," observes commentator Neil Macdonald, who is Canadian and therefore a neutral observer. "But as Samuel Johnson famously remarked, the prospect of being hanged in a fortnight concentrates the mind wonderfully." True, as Macdonald says, "for the most part, Barack Obama's supporters are still clutching the cloak." Mitt Romney is only slightly ahead in most national polls, Obama clings to a slender lead in Ohio (though Josh Jordan argues at National Review...

BEIRUT -- A Greek Orthodox priest has been found slain after being kidnapped near the Syrian capital of Damascus, the Syrian government and the Vatican news service reported Thursday.The body of the Rev. Fadi Jamil Haddad, pastor of St. Elias Church in Qatana, outside Damascus, was discovered in the Jaramana district of the capital, reported Agenzia Fides, the Vatican news service. The site was not far from the area where he was kidnapped by an “unidentified armed group" last Friday, the agency said.The Vatican agency quoted a colleague saying the priest had been “horribly tortured.” The official Syrian news service...

A nurse holds an orphan with a cleft lip. Courtesy of Little Flower Projects. Beijing, China, Oct 26, 2012 / 12:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- An American couple living in China for 15 years says their success in rescuing over 1,000 medically-fragile orphans is due to totally relying on God, especially during trying times. â€śYou really have to have an absolute dependence on God that the money's gonna show up when you need it and that you're going to stay out of trouble,â€ť Brent Johnson of the organization China Little Flower told CNA Oct. 17. Founded in 1998, China Little...

Think religion, think ritual: history, perhaps sacred writings, proscribed sets of moral laws, and potentially a sacrifice or two. There are plenty of organizations and cultures around the world that claim they adhere to a certain set of beliefs, but could adoration and a cult following for a technology firm be the next step? The University of British Columbia's Dr. Kirsten Bell believes that much of the aforementioned applies to Apple. After observing launch videos, and recently attending the iPad mini launch for TechNewsDaily, the social anthropologist said that Mac fandom has some strikingly similar parallels between a religion or...

Springfield’s budget director says the city is out of options to be reimbursed for expenses associated with hosting then-Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign stop in the fall of 2008. “Short of suing the campaign, which isn’t really going to do anything — it would drag on forever — there’s really nothing we can do,” said Bill McCarty. “We’ve tried.” Obama introduced his running mate, Joe Biden, at the Old State Capitol in August 2008. About 160 police officers and nine civilians helped provide protection for Obama’s visit, according to an invoice from the city. Obama’s presidential campaign was sent a...

Annika Eriksson, a long-time Swedish chef revered for her school lunches, has been squelched. Has she made errors? Are her meals contaminated? Has the quality of her ingredients slipped? No, none of the above. The trouble stems purely from the fact that her meals are too good. Yes, you read that right. She’s exceeding expectations. She bakes fresh bread every day. She offers 15 different vegetables at lunchtime. She knows it pleases the students to have choices. This is her crime because, you see, other schools don’t have the same benefits in the Falun district in Sweden. (This is called...

The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill has removed the word “freshman” from official university documents, citing as their reason an attempt to adopt more “gender inclusive language.” We are “committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our community,” reads a statement administrators sent to Campus Reform on Wednesday.

Monday, 22 October 2012 16:11 The Passing of George McGovern: A Liberal Who Got Mugged Written by Bob Adelmann George McGovern, known for his ultra-liberal stance on issues of his day, passed away on Sunday, October 21st, at Dougherty Hospice House in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at age 90. Active in promoting liberal programs almost from the first, McGovern was convinced that government could be used as an instrument to improve society, especially in providing food for the poor in America and around the world. He saw the American government and the United Nations as tools to promote sustenance for...

In a video address to the Social Good Summit in New York City on Sept. 22, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said technology makes it possible for “anyone” to be a diplomat. “We are living in a moment when anyone can be a diplomat,” Clinton said. “All you have to do is hit send.” The three-day summit was held during U.N. Week and was sponsored in part by the United Nations Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “The Social Good Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking...

Paul Kurtz, who sought to debunk psychics, astrologers and anything related to the paranormal, has died. He was 86. The secular humanist philosopher died Saturday at his home in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst. His death was announced Monday by the Center for Inquiry, which he founded. His family isn't releasing the cause. Kurtz founded the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and The Skeptical Inquirer magazine, which advocates relying on science and reason to examine everything from alien sightings to homeopathic remedies. He also was a well-known voice for the idea that decisions and behavior should be guided by science and...

The next election may determine where America is headed -- to a restoration of its greatness, or to a retreat into the obsolescence of history. Before one casts a vote, an example stands before us of a country that made the wrong choice, warning us what to avoid. The country is Argentina, chiefly unknown to most Americans, apart from its creation of the tango . This ignorance on our part is inexcusable, since Argentina resembles an America that went awry. Argentina's are astounding. Argentina is a little less than half the size of continental United States, with a climate that...

Listening to fellow pundits on the left react with rage and disbelief to the support by the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, for halving the abortion time limit to 12 weeks, I was reminded of the late Christopher Hitchens. “[A]nyone who has ever seen a sonogram or has spent even an hour with a textbook on embryology knows that emotions are not the deciding factor [in abortions],” wrote the Hitch in his column for the Nation magazine in April 1989. “In order to terminate a pregnancy, you have to still a heartbeat, switch off a developing brain . . . break...

The short answer is yes. A longer answer is this video:Is Obama Marxist? A note on the patently phony rhetoric from commies like Obama and Biden regarding the middle class: under the collectivist system they have been incrementally imposing, there will be no middle class — just government-dependent peasants and their wise, all-powerful rulers.

In the latest religious battle in Hillsborough County schools — call it Eastergate -a federal magistrate says a fourth-grader should have been allowed to pass out invitations to classmates for an Easter egg hunt to "learn the true meaning of Easter."And that telling him no violated his right to free speech.I figured this news would have conservative Christian activist and current School Board candidate Terry Kemple — whose group was behind billboards that called the separation of church and state a lie—cheering.Hooray for the First Amendment!Though, actually, what he said was: "It was an accurate ruling."It got me wondering, though....

Victims of the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood in Texas that killed 13 people and wounded dozens more are outraged that the U.S. government refuses to classify it as an act of terrorism. About 160 victims and their families released a video on Thursday describing the shooting — in which Army Maj. Nidal Hasan allegedly opened fire on a room full of soldiers — and arguing why it should be classified as a terrorist attack. ...... The U.S. Department of Defense has ruled the Nov. 5, 2009, shooting a case of workplace violence. ...... Hasan consulted by email with top...

A woman throws icons away in a propaganda poster which states, "The Bright Light of Science Has Proven That There Is No God." Denver, Colo., Oct 19, 2012 / 05:43 pm (CNA).- Some 40 Soviet propaganda posters against Christianity will soon be displayed at Denverâ€™s Catholic cathedral as part of an exhibit dedicated to religious liberty. â€śThese posters remind us that societies can turn very deadly when you have a kind of radical secularism which manifests in an anti-Christian attitude â€¦ you see it in all its ugliness through the lens of these posters,â€ť Father Doug Grandon told CNA...

About the author Patricia Crone is professor of Islamic history at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. It is notoriously difficult to know anything for sure about the founder of a world religion. Just as one shrine after the other obliterates the contours of the localities in which he was active, so one doctrine after another reshapes him as a figure for veneration and imitation for a vast number of people in times and places that he never knew. In the case of Mohammed, Muslim literary sources for his life only begin around 750-800 CE (common era), some four to...

In pursuit of gender equality The kissing sailor, Greta Zimmer Friedman, George Mendonsa Most of us are familiar with this picture. Captured in Times Square on V-J Day, 1945, it has become one of the most iconic photographs of American history, symbolizing the jubilation and exuberance felt throughout the country at the end of World War II. For a long time, the identity of the pair remained a mystery. It certainly looks passionate and romantic enough, with many speculating that they were a couple – a sailor and a nurse, celebrating and sharing their joy. This year, however, historians...

"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss." Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu said this over 2000 years ago in his book The Art of War. It's hardly new advice. Yet it is just as useful now as it was so many centuries ago. Armed citizens spend countless hours trying to find the perfect weapon system, combining the best size, accuracy, reliability, and stopping power into one easy-to-carry package. They try friends' guns. They read gun magazines. They study every gun website on the Internet. They are truly taking Sun Tzu's...

A Naples doctor said former Cuban leader Fidel Castro is near ‘a neurovegetative state’ after suffering a stroke. Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and his state of health is so precarious that he has trouble feeding, speaking and recognizing people, said a Venezuelan physician who assured El Nuevo Herald that he has access to firsthand sources and information. “He suffered an embolic stroke and recognizes absolutely no one,” said José Marquina, a respected doctor who in the past has claimed to have direct information about the illness affecting President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela.

Last night I was invited to dinner by Al Smith IV, the great-grandson of Al Smith, who was a former New York governor and the first Catholic nominated for president. Al shared some jokes while introducing Obama and Romney. He also poked fun at Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a man of considerable girth, who sat between the two candidates. Al joked that they were separated by a “vast expanse.” The banter throughout the night reminded me of another man of great girth, namely G.K. Chesterton. Standing 6 feet 4 inches and weighing around 290 pounds, Chesterton’s size gave rise to a...

The publisher of the Guardian and Observer newspapers is close to axing the print editions of the newspapers, despite the hopes of its editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger to keep them running for several years. Senior figures at Guardian News & Media are seriously discussing the move to an entirely online operation, it has been claimed, leaving Mr Rusbridger increasingly isolated. The longstanding Guardian chief wants to develop the Guardian’s digital-only US operation before pulling the plug on the print edition, in the hope that it will provide a useful blueprint for the online business in Britain. However, trustees of the Scott...

Turns out that many board members (former NBC boss Robert Wright, developer John Zuccotti, moneyman Peter Kiernan III) of the Smith Foundation are well-heeled, big-time supporters of pro-abortion Democratic lawmakers. This includes good old Al Smith IV, the foundation’s chairman. Records at the Federal Election Commission and OpenSecrets.org show that over the years he has rained campaign cash on every Schumer, Rodham, Clinton, Kerry, Dodd, and Kennedy he could find. My favorite: On June 28, 2007, Smith contributed $500 to the PAC run by ultra pro-abortion Democratic congressman Jerry Nadler, listing on the FEC donation record that his occupation was...

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/-Good-Catholics-can-not-be-Democrats-argues-Kansas-Irish-American-politician-174354601.html?showAll=y Good Catholics can not be Democrats argues Kansas Irish American politician Says Democratic platform on gay marriage is counter to Christ’s teaching ByJAMES O'SHEA,IrishCentral Staff Writer Published Tuesday, October 16, 2012, 7:11 AMUpdated Tuesday, October 16, 2012, 9:16 AM Larger TextPrintE-mail50 Comments Steve Fitzgerald, an Irish American Republican candidate for the Kansas State Senate has stated that Catholics should not be Democrats because the party supports gay marriage. "My main point is that the Democratic platform and policies nationally are an attempt to redefine marriage in effect to say what Christ has said about marriage is a lie," Fitzgerald...

Or would you have still backed Cain/Gingrich/Santorum/Christie/Palin (whoever your choice was from before or during the primary). I think it's an interesting question. Mitt wasn't my first choice, but am glad that he is doing so well. Would you now prefer Mitt over another who may or may not have done as well? Of course, I myself am a completely committed supporter of Mitt Romney since the primary was decided.

The University of California -- Merced (UCM) spent $80,000 in a self-described attempt to advance ideas of “economic justice.” According to the school’s official website, UCM aims to create a “society in which the distribution of resources is equitable” and promote “cultural awareness.” To bring these goals to term, the university created a special “Social Justice” department which hosts annual events such as the “National Coming Out Awareness” week and a “Multicultural Odyssey in San Francisco.”

"Anybody who wants the presidency so much that he'll spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office." - David Broder "If voting could actually change anything, it would be illegal." - Noam Chomsky Generally, I tend not to comment on elections, as I consider them to be largely unimportant. That is, regardless of which candidate is elected, the actual outcome tends to be much the same. In most countries, the higher the office being contested, the less real difference there is between the candidates. First, unlike, say, a beauty pageant, in which...

In the vice-presidential debate, the two candidates, both Roman Catholics, were asked about their religious beliefs, about how those beliefs impact their political positions, and specifically about abortion. This was the response of Vice President Joe Biden: My religion defines who I am. And Iâ€™ve been a practicing Catholic my whole life. And it has particularly informed my social doctrine. Catholic social doctrine talks about taking care of those who â€” who canâ€™t take care of themselves, people who need help.With regard to abortion, I accept my churchâ€™s position on abortion as a â€” what we call de fide...

Parents are being advised to keep their children home from school on Oct. 30 if their local education officials are allowing the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Mix It Up” day to be held on campus. The advisory comes from the pro-family American Family Association, because of the pro-homosexual message that is expected to be delivered during the events. “The Southern Poverty Law Center is using this project to bully-push its gay agenda, and at the same time, intimidate and silence students who have a biblical view of homosexuality.” “This is the same organization that launched hateful and malicious rhetoric toward...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: Not since the days of slavery have there been so many people who feel entitled to what other people have produced as there are in the modern welfare state, whether in Western Europe or on this side of the Atlantic. Economist Edward Lazear has cut through all of Barack Obama's claims about "creating jobs" with one plain and inescapable fact — "there hasn't been one day during the entire Obama presidency when as many Americans were working as on the day President Bush left office." Whatever number of jobs were created during the Obama...

Tampa Area Adults React to VP Debate: 1,000 Tampa area adults were interviewed by SurveyUSA about last night's Vice Presidential debate. Of the adults, 704 watched the debate. Results of debate watchers: * 38% say Joe Biden clearly won the debate. * 42% say Paul Ryan clearly won the debate. * 20% say there was no clear winner. 13% say they changed which candidate for President they support as a result of the debate. Of those who tell SurveyUSA they changed their mind: * 44% switched from the Obama ticket to the Romney ticket. * 29% switched from undecided to...

When Joe Biden was asked about abortion in the vice-presidential debate last Thursday, he replied with what, in part, has become boilerplate. "I accept my church's position on abortion..." he said. "Life begins at conception; that's the church's judgment. I accept it in my personal life; I just refuse to impose that on others, unlike my friend here, the congressman [Paul Ryan]." The personally-opposed, no-values-imposed (PONVI) argument is nothing new. For instance, consider the following version of a typical pro-abortion appeal: If each person will only agree to mind his own business, and leave his neighbors alone, there will be...

The presidential and vice presidential debates are sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates, a nonprofit corporation that mandates that a candidate have at least 15 percent support in national polls to participate. Since the CPD took over running the debates in 1988, only once has a third party candidate been allowed to participate: In 1992, when Ross Perot joined Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush on the debate stage. The dominance of the two major parties at the debates has critics charging that the system is effectively rigged to shut out other voices. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee...

The Stalinist historian Eric Hobsbawm has been the subject of a lot of fatuous eulogies since his death a few weeks ago. Ron Radosh asks whether an intellectual – a man of ideas — who dedicated his whole life to the defense of the most murderous regime on human record, and to lying in defense of that regime – can be a good historian. The question, if put right, is self-answering. Yet even worthy conservatives like Niall Ferguson apparently get it wrong. Hobsbawm may have been a brilliant writer and an intelligent man. Yet he was morally defective, and that...

His Grace apologises for this post, but it is as unavoidable as the decline and fall of the Coalition. What two grown men or two grown women get up behind closed doors in the privacy of their own homes is not, of course, a matter for the Conservatively-inclined. But, thanks to the Government’s intention to legislate for same-sex marriage, it will, at some point very soon, be a very public matter for the courts to consider and the media to pore over in salacious detail. His Grace is merely prematurely jumping on a future bandwagon hereby foreseen and foretold with...

........Once the old, routine churchgoers have died off, and now that “None” is the default position for liberal-minded young people, what will the churches of the future look like? We’re beginning to find out. More to the point, the clapped-out Anglican and Catholic bishops of the English-speaking world are finding out, too–and it’s giving them nightmares. Those youngsters who once went to church out of obligation are now spending Sunday mornings in the supermarket or the gym (body worship is a flourishing faith). That means that the only young people in the pews are true believers who really want to...

An analysis by a savvy demographer points to the states Romney is likely to take—and why he's on the path to victory. Sizing up population growth in key GOP states. The presidential race has grown closer since Mitt Romney and Barack Obama squared off in the first of three debates, with the Republican challenger edging ahead in the polls in several key states. But Romney never was the underdog depicted by the mainstream press, and Obama's path to victory is much steeper than his campaign team appreciates; they've long felt they have it in the bag. Former GOP demographer John...

To avoid being whipped, mutilated, and jailed, women in Timbuktu now have to wear black veils and loose-fitting clothing. Radical Islamists, who took control of the city months ago, are laying down their law – Sharia law – and for the first time since they’ve arrived, they’re specifically targeting women. Over the past few weeks, Islamists from two armed groups – Ansar Dine and Mujao, who took over northern Mali in April – have increasingly made use of corporal punishment against the local population. This includes whipping, amputations, and even stoning people to death who do not obey Sharia law....

Vice President Joe Biden gestures during his debate at Centre College in Danville, Ky., C with Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential candidate. (AP Photo/Rick Wilking) (CNSNews.com) - Vice President Joe Biden said in Thursday night’s vice presidential debate that life begins at conception, that he accepts the Catholic Church’s position on abortion, and that he believes abortion must be legal. The Catholic Church's teaching is not only that abortion is always wrong, but also that Catholics in public office have a grave duty to oppose legalizing it while speaking out clearly against it.The position Biden took on abortion...

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews confronted a woman outside Centre College in Danville, Ky., the location of Thursday’s vice presidential debate, who yelled out that President Obama is a “communist” while he was interviewing people about the presidential race. “Who said communist down here?” Matthews asked, locating the woman and asking her why she believes Obama is in fact a communist. “All you have to do is study it out. Just study it out. And you’ll see. You haven’t done your homework, buddy,” the woman told Matthews. “And what do I need to study?” he replied. “He’s a communist,” she said again....

In this episode of the Conscience of Kansas radio program we talk about several bits of Kansas news including a liberal artists in Lawrence Kansas angry that his painting of Gov. Brownback burning in hell was removed from a local business. Doug Giles, author of the book, "Raising Boys Feminists Will Hate" will be on the show to talk about his new book. We invite you to listen and comment.

In recent years Taliban militants have been using the micro-blogging service Twitter to spread their message against the U.S. Following are some of the key Taliban accounts active on Twitter. Some Twitter accounts established in the names of Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri are not listed here, as they do not appear to be authentic. @zabihmujahidThis is the official Twitter account of Zabihullah Mujahid, one of the two main spokesmen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban's shadow government). It has 197 followers as of September 19, 2012.